EABS students work for education of underprivileged kids

Published: Thursday, December 9, 2010, 14:00 [IST]

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Pune, Dec.9 (ANI): Students of the Pune-based Europe Asia Business School (EABS) recently took part in a three-day event called "Mandi", during which they were asked to sell products manufactured by Navnirmiti, a NGO.

Over Rs.30, 000 was raised through this initiative, with the true winner being the cause.

The proceeds collected through the event will be used for the education of underprivileged children and those who are from special schools.

The articles sold were high-quality science and math's learning tools called Jodo and Number Balance, and 'The Story of My Experiments with Truth'- the autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi.

According to Dr. Nikhil Agarwal, Director, EABS, the event was organized to enable students to understand the need for maintaining a balance between academic rigor and extra-curricular activities.

"This is an excellent approach to learning and the pedagogical approach of combining self learning with first-hand experience is a unique one. This helps budding managers learn and practice theories of management," Dr. Agarwal said

"This is not just education, but fun for the students who will understand the customer's mindset, behavior and expectations while getting to directly evaluate his or her marketing skills on the ground level," he added.

Dr. Agarwal said a pre-Mandi session was held on December 3 at EABS to discuss the event in-depth.

Thereafter, two groups of forty-two students then headed to various places on December 4 like Fergusson College Road, JM Road, Koregoan Park among others.

"We were hesitating before going on the field and were not quite sure that the goods could be sold. However, we sold 10 toys and many copies of the Mahatma's autobiography in just 45 minutes flat," said Prasad Ombase, a student.

On December 5, many such experiences were shared during a debriefing session.

Here, Jitendra Ghosh, Dr. Mandi and Dr. Sudheer Dhume analyzed them.

It was found here that Sandeep Vishwakarma and Santosh Kelkar had registered maximum sales and are leading the race to be the winning team.

Such was their dedication that the two were on the job for 13 hours.

"We were very motivated and the reason was not just about winning, but to make a change in the life of the underprivileged children," said Sandeep.

Students have now been asked to make knolls and video films on Mandi and only then will the names of winners be announced. (ANI)